On Monday, the Baltic Institute of Corporate Governance (BICG) has launched the initiative “Lift the country, not taxes!” (“Celt valsti, nevis nodokļus!”) in Latvia, aiming to strengthen the governance and performance of state- and municipality-owned companies (SOEs and MOEs).
“While more than one billion euro of public funds is invested in SOEs every year, a better governance and listing of commercial SOEs could reduce the pressure on the state budget and free up resources for critical national priorities. If SOEs would use more capital market funding and less state budget allocations, hundreds of millions could be redirected to defense, healthcare and education sectors. The public is clearly calling for a better governance of SOEs to avoid stagnation and future tax increases as well,” says Andris Grafs, BICG Vice President Latvia.
According to a representative survey carried out by Norstat at the request of the BICG in October and November, 87% of the Latvian residents believe that SOEs should become more efficient, work more actively in export markets, and earn more in order to provide higher revenues for the state budget, reducing the need to raise taxes. Additionally, 62% of respondents support listing SOEs on the stock exchange.
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CONTACTS
Andris Grafs
Vice President Latvia
Mob. +371 297 84407
E-mail andris[at]bicg.eu
